Tongue for a shoe, and shoe

ABSTRACT

A tongue for a shoe is disclosed, especially a sports shoe, having at least one closure passage which is arranged on the outside of an upper region of the tongue when the shoe is in use, and a closure receiving pocket, which is arranged at the back of the closure passage towards a user. A shoe provided with such a tongue is also disclosed.

The invention relates to a tongue for a shoe according to the preambleof patent claim 1 and to a shoe according to the preamble of patentclaim 6.

A tongue is a generally known part of a shoe which closes the shoe atthe front opposite a wearer's forefoot and instep. In some shoes,especially in sports shoes, the tongue additionally forms part of aclosure system or lacing system, wherein a specific portion, usually amiddle and/or upper portion, of the tongue is associated with a closuresystem or lacing system of the shoe. Such a lacing system, or tighteningsystem, for a shoe is described, for example, in DE 601 06 816, whereinthe tongue has in its upper region a pocket with openings, through whichpocket the shoelaces extend and in which a shoelace-locking element canbe accommodated. However, the system described in DE 601 06 816 has thedisadvantage that the free end of the shoelace which is to be grasped bya user during tightening or closing of the shoe, or of the shoelace, andwhich is in the form of a loop is relatively long after locking of theshoelace in a closed position and is stored in the same pocket as thelocking element for the shoelace, so that on the one hand the pocketmust be made very large and on the other hand there is a risk of thelocking element's coming undone again when the left-over shoelace ispushed into the pocket, so that the lacing of the shoe becomes loose. Inaddition, there is a further risk that, when the left-over shoelace ispulled out of the pocket intentionally or unintentionally, the lockingelement will likewise be pulled out and may unintentionally come undone.

The object of the invention is to eliminate the above-mentioneddisadvantages and to provide a tongue for a shoe, and a shoe, which hasan improved closure system and in addition ensures secure storage of aleft-over closure means, such as, for example, a shoelace.

That object is achieved by a tongue for a shoe according to patent claim1 and by a shoe equipped with such a tongue according to patent claim 6.

In particular, the object is achieved by a tongue for a shoe, especiallya sports shoe, having at least one closure means passage which isarranged on the outside in an upper region of the tongue when the shoeis in use, and a pocket, especially a closure means receiving pocket,which is arranged at the back of the closure means passage towards auser.

An important aspect of the invention is that the tongue has at least oneclosure means passage which is arranged on the outside in an upperregion of the tongue when the shoe is in use and through which closuremeans, such as, for example, shoelaces, can extend, while a closuremeans receiving pocket is arranged at the back of the closure meanspassage, that is to say towards a user, on the tongue or in the tongue,in which closure means receiving pocket excess closure means, such as,for example, one or more of the above-mentioned shoelaces, can beaccommodated. In that manner it is possible according to the inventionto accommodate a locking system which serves to fix a closure means,such as a shoelace, in the upper region of the tongue on or in theclosure means passage, while left-over and/or excess closure means, suchas above-mentioned shoelaces, can be accommodated separately therefromin a pocket arranged between the closure means passage and the wearer ofthe shoe, so that there is no risk that the locking system and theclosure means will affect one another, so that there is no longer a riskof the locking system's being unintentionally opened by excess closuremeans when the closure means is being stored in or taken out of thepocket.

According to a particular embodiment of the invention, the closure meanspassage is in the form of a loop through which at least one closuremeans, preferably at least one tape or at least one shoelace, is guided.That loop according to the invention can be in the form of either a loopof cord or a loop of tape, as required, but a pocket-like loop of largesurface area which is attached, for example, flat to the front upperregion of the tongue by preferably lateral attachment points or seams,riveting or adhesive bonding also falls within the scope of theinvention.

The loop is further elastic according to the invention and is optionallyconfigured to receive and/or hold a locking system, especially aclamping device for the closure means, it being possible for the lockingsystem to be held and fixed in a loop in cord or tape form or to beaccommodated completely in a pocket-like loop. It should be pointed outhere that the locking system can either be configured as a fixedconstituent of the pocket-like loop and fixedly integrated therein, oralternatively can be capable of being inserted into that pocket andremoved therefrom.

It is further provided according to the invention that the loop can havea cut-out, especially a slot-like cut-out, which serves to receive,especially in a form-fitting manner, and hold the locking system. Inthat manner, the locking system can be accommodated securely on or inthe loop, namely in the slot-like cut-out of the loop provided therefor,and on the other hand is easily and conveniently accessible for handlingin order to tighten, or close, the shoe and release the closure means.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the closure meansreceiving pocket and/or the closure means passage is formed integrallywith the tongue, so that both the closure means receiving pocket and/orthe closure means passage are accommodated completely in the tongue andaccordingly do not increase or increase only negligibly the thickness ofthe tongue. Alternatively, it can be provided that the closure meanspassage is situated in an upper region of the tongue and is stitched,adhesively bonded, riveted or welded thereto. In addition, the closuremeans receiving pocket can also be stitched or otherwise attached to analready existing, finished tongue or can be placed on a tongue duringthe production thereof and connected, especially stitched or adhesivelybonded, riveted or welded, thereto.

The object of the invention is additionally achieved by a shoe which hasa tongue according to the above-mentioned embodiments.

Further embodiments of the invention will become apparent from thesubsidiary claims.

The invention will be described below on the basis of exemplaryembodiments which are explained in greater detail on the basis of thefigures, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a diagrammatic representation of a first embodimentaccording to the invention of a closure means passage and of a closuremeans receiving pocket located at the back thereof;

FIG. 2 shows a diagrammatic representation of a further embodiment ofthe invention;

FIG. 3 shows a diagrammatic representation of a further embodiment ofthe invention;

FIGS. 4 to 7 show a shoe with a tongue according to the invention; and

FIGS. 8 and 9 show a detail view of the tongue according to theinvention according to FIGS. 4 to 7.

In the following description, the same reference numerals are used forparts which are the same and which have the same function.

FIG. 1 shows a diagrammatic representation of a closure means passage 20according to the invention, through which there extends a closure means40 in the form of a shoelace 40 guided in a loop. The closure meanspassage 20 is in the form of a pocket-like loop, in which there isaccommodated a locking system 50 through which the shoelaces 40 againextend. It is further apparent from FIG. 1 that there is arranged at theback of the closure means passage 20 a closure means receiving pocket 30in which left-over, or excess, closure means 40 is accommodated. Againat the back of the closure means receiving pocket 30 there can bearranged a tongue, to which the device shown diagrammatically in FIG. 1can be stitched. Alternatively, it is also possible to integrate thedevice shown in FIG. 1 directly into a tongue 10 (not shown in FIG. 1).

FIGS. 2 and 3 each show a diagrammatic representation of a tongueaccording to the invention, wherein in the embodiments shown in FIG. 2and FIG. 3 the closure means passage 20 is in each case in the form of apocket-like loop, each of which has a cut-out 60 in which a lockingsystem 50 can be fixed in a form-fitting manner when the closure means40 is tightened and held by the locking system 50. It is further shownin FIG. 2 how the closure means 40 extends through the locking system 50and through the closure means passage 20, from where it emerges from a“buttonhole” and is shown as a lace extending in a ring.

In FIG. 2, the cut-out 60 located in the closure means passage 20 is notyet occupied by the locking system 50, while in FIG. 3 the lockingsystem 50 is held in a form-fitting manner in the cut-out 60 of theclosure means passage 20. In addition, FIG. 3 shows how the closuremeans 40 is accommodated in a closure means receiving pocket 30 arrangedat the back of the closure means passage 20. The free ends of theclosure means 40 extend in FIGS. 2 and 3, as well as in FIG. 1, towardsthe lacing system of an associated shoe.

FIGS. 4 to 7 show how a tongue 10 according to the invention is arrangedin a shoe according to the invention, and how the closure means 40 formsthe lacing system of the shoe and extends through the closure meanspassage 20. The locking system 50, by means of which the closure means40 can be fixed, is accommodated in the closure means passage 20, whichaccording to FIGS. 4 to 7 is in the form of a pocket-like loop which inthe present case does not have a cut-out 60, the locking system 50 beinginserted into the pocket-like loop of the closure means passage frombeneath, that is to say coming from the lacing system of the shoe, theclosure means 40 extending out of the top of the elastic pocket-likeloop. The elastic closure means passage 20 is arranged at the head ofthe tongue 10 and is in such a form that on the one hand the closuremeans 40 is guided in a simple manner, while the locking system 50,after tightening of the closure means 40, can be held in the cut-out 60,the cut-out 60 being of such a size, and especially sufficiently wide,that it is able to receive the locking system 50 but is not so wide thatsecure holding of the locking system 50 would not be possible.

The closure means receiving pocket 30 is in turn so configured that theclosure means 40, which extends out of the locking system 50 towards theupper side of the tongue 10 through the above-mentioned “buttonhole” ofthe closure means passage 20, can be accommodated simply and securely,so that excess closure means, especially shoelace, does not hanguntidily outside the shoe.

FIG. 8 shows an enlarged representation of an upper region of the tongue10 of a shoe according to the invention with a closure means passage 20,which is in the form of a pocket and is configured to receive a lockingsystem 50. The detail view in FIG. 8 shows a front view of a shoe, sothat the closure means 40 extends backwards into the closure meansreceiving pocket 30 (not visible in FIG. 8). The closure means receivingpocket 30 is visible in FIG. 9, FIG. 9 showing how the closure means 40,which extends out of the “buttonhole”, can be accommodated.

Accordingly, the tongue according to the invention advantageously has atwin-pocket system which is provided on the one hand for fixing orlocking a closure means, namely preferably a shoelace, which extendsthrough a pocket-like loop and the excess of which can then be stored ina closure means receiving pocket, which is arranged, when the tongue isviewed from the front, behind the closure means passage 20.

It should be pointed out here that all the parts described above areclaimed on their own and in any combination, especially the detailsshown in the drawings. Modifications thereof are familiar to the personskilled in the art.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

-   10 tongue-   20 closure means passage-   30 closure means receiving pocket-   40 closure means-   50 locking system-   60 cut-out

1. A tongue for a shoe, comprising: at least one closure passage whichis arranged on an outside of an upper region of the tongue when the shoeis in use, and a closure receiving pocket, which is arranged at a backof the closure passage towards a user.
 2. A tongue according to claim 1,wherein: the closure passage is in the form of a loop, through which atleast one closure, comprising at least one tape or at least oneshoelace, is guided.
 3. A tongue according to any claim 2, wherein: theloop is elastic and is configured for receiving and/or holding a lockingsystem for the closure.
 4. A tongue according to claim 3, wherein: theloop has a cut-out for receiving and holding the locking system.
 5. Atongue according to claim 1, wherein: the closure receiving pocketand/or the closure passage is integral with the tongue (10).
 6. A shoehaving a tongue according to claim
 1. 7. A tongue according to claim 3,wherein the locking system comprises a clamping device.
 8. A tongueaccording to claim 4, wherein the cut-out comprises a slot-like cut-out.